Power wedge problems 08 VLX

[Bmac]

What's up Malibu Crew, new member and longtime fellow rider. Heard lots of good things about the site. Looking for a little advice on a 08 VLX we just  purchased. Power wedge not working when purchased and supposedly just some wire issues from hungry squirrels. Found some wires that had been repaired but after looking into the system further found the PCM was fried between the white wedge wire and 30 amp fuse. Hopefully repairable but was wondering if there should be an inline fuse somewhere before PCM? Wiring diagrams on 2010-11 look to have inline fuses. 08 diagrams hard to find. Any input would be much appreciated! Thanks

[Ndawg12]

44 minutes ago, Bmac said:

What's up Malibu Crew, new member and longtime fellow rider. Heard lots of good things about the site. Looking for a little advice on a 08 VLX we just  purchased. Power wedge not working when purchased and supposedly just some wire issues from hungry squirrels. Found some wires that had been repaired but after looking into the system further found the PCM was fried between the white wedge wire and 30 amp fuse. Hopefully repairable but was wondering if there should be an inline fuse somewhere before PCM? Wiring diagrams on 2010-11 look to have inline fuses. 08 diagrams hard to find. Any input would be much appreciated! Thanks

So the black and white wires from each actuator are spliced together therefore 1 black and 1 white wire run back to the control box (it actually splits back to 4 wires just before the control box).  On mine there is no fuse on either of those wires.  A red wire coming out of the control box runs to a breaker.  That was how my 07 was wired anyways.

[Bmac]

Thanks. I appreciate the input. Hoping to not fry the repaired PCM. System a little more complex then I thought

[BearCreekBum]

On my 2008 there are not any in line fuses that I have found. If the 30 amp fuse is good and you are not blowing the fuse I would start by verifying that you have 12 volts going to the actuators. Like Ndawg said the 4 actuators wires are spliced to the 2 feeder wires on the drivers side of the engine compartment. The splices on my boat did not have any heat shrink so I was able to get the meter leads in the splice. 

Ndawg is the expert on actuators and can give you some advice to verify that the actuators are still good. 

Good luck. 

[Bmac]

Sounds good. I'm guessing you guys have had issues with your wedge?

[Ndawg12]

2 minutes ago, Bmac said:

Sounds good. I'm guessing you guys have had issues with your wedge?

Yup, everyone will sooner than later.  Have you verified the actuators work, travel at the same speed and thus don't bind?  It's as simple as hooking up a small 12volt battery (I use a small UPS battery backup battery) to the leads and watching them travel.  Sounds like the squirrels gave you a connection point for the battery .  Curious how it was determined that the control box was fried and what was done to fix it...?

 

[Bmac]

Haven't checked the actuators yet. Next on list. Finally found a new module which was around $800. Hoping electronics repair dude can fix it for a couple hundred bucks. The fried capacitor or processing chip was visibly burned up on the board between white wedge wire terminal and fuse. Apparently it is unprotected and was thinking that is why the newer systems have inline fuses. 

[BearCreekBum]

When you say "module" are you talking about the Medallion box under the helm? Just curious because my 2008 does not have the separate Lenco box.

[Bmac]

Yep. Medallion box containing fuses

[River Monsters]

On 3/15/2017 at 11:26 PM, Ndawg12 said:

Yup, everyone will sooner than later. 

 

My floating wedge has been trouble free....

[Helene]

I’m having similar issues.  It’s $1800 for the lenco control box alone.  I ordered actuators and that was $1100 and wasn’t the issue even.  How will I know for absolutely sure that this is the problem before ordering this?  What causes these to break?  Just do t want to replace it if there is something else wrong with my boat and it burns up the new one too 😬. Please help ❤️  I bought my boat a week ago and it was an issue from day 1!

[csleaver]

1 hour ago, Helene said:

I’m having similar issues.  It’s $1800 for the lenco control box alone.  I ordered actuators and that was $1100 and wasn’t the issue even.  How will I know for absolutely sure that this is the problem before ordering this?  What causes these to break?  Just do t want to replace it if there is something else wrong with my boat and it burns up the new one too 😬. Please help ❤️  I bought my boat a week ago and it was an issue from day 1!

It might be a good idea to have a reputable Malibu dealer do the troubleshooting and repair for you.  There is really no way you can be absolutely sure what is causing an operational issue with your boat without a good amount of knowledge, time, and testing.  Relying on experienced repair professionals familiar with you boat is better than throwing parts at it, unless you are feeling extremely lucky, or have lots of time and money to embark on your journey into boat electrical system repair.